


Love is all you need

by Sheeana



Category: Runaways (Comics)
Genre: Cuddling, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-02 21:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2827013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheeana/pseuds/Sheeana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karolina and Nico spend the night together in the team's newest hideout. Being alone gives them a chance to talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love is all you need

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ladymercury_10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladymercury_10/gifts).



> I really liked your prompts, so I wrote you this treat! It's set sometime after the Runaways/Avengers Academy crossover, but it doesn't take Avengers Arena into account. I hope you enjoy it!

"Take care of each other," Karolina said, even though she knew Victor and Chase would never let anything happen to Molly or Klara. The girls were almost old enough to take care of themselves, anyway. Sometimes she forgot how long they'd been doing this.

"Don't worry. The kids are safe with us," said Chase, patting Old Lace on the head. "C'mon, let's go. We're gonna be late for the movie."

"I'll take care of everyone! Just like always," Molly said, flexing her muscles while she flashed Karolina an excited grin. She skipped after Chase, tugging on Klara and Victor's hands as they followed somewhat more reluctantly.

"So… it's just us tonight, then," said Karolina, trying for casual once she was alone with Nico. They'd been sorely missing casual for a long time now. "Girls' night in?"

"Sure, if you want to call it that," Nico called out, from the other side of the cave.

Their latest hideout wasn't exactly lacking in privacy and seclusion, but it was lacking in a lot of other things, like running water and electricity. It reminded Karolina of the first place they'd gone after they ran away, years and years ago when they weren't much more than a bunch of lost kids. An abandoned cave outside the city, completely off the grid. A few strands of half-functioning lights strung up around the rock walls and powered by a small generator made it feel as much like home as anywhere. Things were tight lately, and they had to save money for things they actually needed, like food. There were people who could help, but they'd agreed not to ask for favors except as a last resort.

It was only temporary, but it was always only temporary. She wasn't sure if they'd never had a future planned out, or if they'd stopped planning at some point. Thinking about where she was going only only ever seemed to end in heartbreak.

In the center of the cave, Nico had set up their sleeping bags around a little camping stove Chase had salvaged on one of his outings with Old Lace and Victor. Not the fanciest set-up they'd ever managed, but it wasn't the worst, either.

The lights on the walls weren't quite enough to see by. Karolina could fix that, at least for awhile, but it was easier to light a few candles. She knelt down next to Nico on one of the sleeping bags near the stove.

Nico looked like she was considering pricking her finger to bring out her staff, but then pulled out a match and lit the candles with that instead. There were probably more than a few fire spells left that she hadn't tried, but it was better to conserve Nico's spells when they could. They never knew what was waiting around the next corner.

"This is fun," said Karolina, settling onto the sleeping bag with her legs tucked under herself. 

"Yeah," Nico said absently.

"I can't remember the last time it was just the two of us." Karolina plucked a marshmallow from the bag Molly had been roasting the night before and popped it into her mouth.

"Karolina, can I talk to you?"

"Of course you can. About anything. Always," Karolina said gently, as soon as she'd swallowed the sticky sweet marshmallow in her mouth. She reached over to touch Nico's shoulder, then withdrew her hand when Nico looked up to meet her eyes.

"I know it was a long time ago, but while you were gone, back when everyone was still around…"

"What is it?" 

"I realized… I don't know who I am without you."

"Nico," Karolina said softly.

"No, just wait. I need to say it. I'm glad I ran away with you. I'm glad you came back. I'm glad we're still together. And you know what? I don't care what happens anymore, as long as we stay that way."

"I'm glad we're together too-"

"You're not listening, Karolina." There was a lot more frustration in Nico's voice than Karolina was used to, since she started looking after all of them. Keeping their little family together required patience. A whole lot of patience, and sometimes a firm hand to guide them.

"I'm trying," she said, touching the back of Nico's hand. "Whatever it is, you don't have to be embarrassed or anything. We're family."

"I'm saying, I think I made a mistake, when I told you I'm not… interested."

"Interested?"

"In… you know. In you."

"Wait. Are you sure? I wasn't mad. Besides, it was a long time ago. You know you don't have to-"

She didn't get the kind of answer she was expecting. There was no way she could ever expect Nico to lean in and kiss her. She gasped sharply and then quickly stifled it, her eyes wide as she felt Nico's lips against hers. Suddenly she was so much younger and painfully naïve, pining after someone she could never have all over again. She tried not to think about anything at all.

Her hand was halfway to Nico's cheek when she heard a low growl from the shadows in the back of the cave. She broke the kiss, and they slowly turned to face the noise. A dozen pairs of shining yellow eyes stared back at them.

"Demons," Nico said grimly, as she got to her feet. She hefted her staff and set her jaw.

Karolina whirled around so that they were back-to-back. Her hands flared into brilliant, vibrantly-colored light, scattering blue and yellow and pink across the cave and illuminating the furry hides of their newest problem.

It wasn't that they weren't expecting demons. At this point, nothing could really surprise her. After the Gibborim, monsters, aliens, vampires, bee people, just plain old bad people, and the list went on and on, she was prepared for anything. Given the fact that they'd been fighting evil magic users that morning, though, fighting demons was a reliably predictable aftermath.

Sunlight coursed through Karolina's body. She couldn't call it addictive, because it wasn't like that. It was part of who and what she was. She was light and color and heat. She _wasn't_ that girl who'd wished Nico would kiss her back. Not anymore.

Together, they made short work of the demons. By now they almost had it down to a science. None of them even needed Nico to give orders anymore, though she usually did out of habit.

When Nico lowered her staff and Karolina let her powers fade away, the only remaining problem was the fact that there were now furry bodies scattered across their temporary home. She winced, thinking about moving already when they'd only just finished setting up. Finding a new place every week or two was getting old very, very quickly.

" **Clean-up crew** ," Nico pronounced, in that voice that wasn't her own. A glow surrounded the Staff of One. Incorporeal shapes surrounded the demons' bodies, lifted them up, and then vanished, leaving nothing but the bare floor in their wake. When it was finished, Nico sank back down onto her sleeping bag.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Karolina asked, as she knelt down beside her. "What if we need that one for something else?"

"I don't care," Nico replied. She was smirking when she looked up. "They interrupted."

This time, Karolina didn't gasp when Nico's lips eagerly met hers. She laid her palm against Nico's cheek, cupping it gently. Everything was gentle when she kissed someone. She wasn't sure she knew how to be anything but gentle in how she loved someone.

Part of her wanted to stop and beg Nico to be sure about this, because she remembered how much it had stung the last time she'd tried to kiss Nico. Stung so badly she'd run halfway across the galaxy to get away from it.

With all that running through her head, she was surprised by how much it didn't feel like something that was always meant to be. It wasn't fate or destiny or something written in the stars. She'd been through that once, and once was more than enough for an entire lifetime.

"Like I said," Nico murmured, after she pulled away, "We just need to stick together."

"All you need is love?" Karolina suggested wryly.

"Something like that." Nico laughed as she lay back. She pulled her sleeping bag around herself, but held up the corner before she zipped it up.

Karolina didn't hesitate in tucking herself in, arranging their bodies alongside each other. Nico was smaller, but they'd learned to fit together. It was so familiar, letting Nico tuck her head under Karolina's chin, sorting out the way their feet got tangled up when Karolina stretched out her legs. They'd been friends for so long that Karolina didn't really remember what it was like before they knew each other. After everything she'd lost, after everyone else had left or drifted away, Nico was still there.

"I used to daydream about you kissing me," she said, her lips quirking. Amused at the expense of herself. It would be embarrassing if she didn't know that Nico had already forgiven her a thousand times over. "I never thought you'd actually do it."

"Sometimes it takes me awhile to figure things out. Sometimes… I wish I could know things earlier. Before we mess up. Wouldn't that be better?"

"I mean, everyone wishes they could know what's going to happen, but don't you have a spell for that?"

"Even if I did, would it be right to use it? What if we made things worse by trying to fix them? Besides, I tried bringing people back after they were gone. It never worked. The same thing probably goes for seeing the future."

"'People'? I thought-" She stopped, hesitant to reopen old wounds, but maybe enough time had passed. All her own hurts were just dull aches now. "I thought it was just Alex, and that was years ago."

"Yeah. Well," Nico muttered.

"I would have tried, too, if I could," Karolina said softly, drawing her closer in her arms. She felt Nico's fingers tangling in her hair, combing through the long strands, and she smiled. A few stray waves of light ran through her body. A brief light show danced across their skin and the ceiling of the cave. "Hey, Nico?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't know who I am without you, either."

Under the sleeping bag, Nico's hand found Karolina's. Karolina turned her hand over so that their palms aligned. Their fingers slid together like a promise.


End file.
